Wilhelm stier



(Nomaden.) 2 sheets-sheet '1; W. STIER.

I VLETTER. PILE.

No. 412,562. Patented 001;. 8, 1889.

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i l UNITED STATES `PATENT OFFICE,

VILHELIVI STIER, OF LEIPSIC, GERMANY.

LETTER-FILE.

. SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 412,562, dated October 8, 1889.

I Application filed January 29, 1889.` Serial No. 297,933. (No model.) Patented in Germany August 10, 1888, No. 47,147; in

i England November 14,1888, No. 16,565 in Switzerland November 21, v1888, No. 176, and in Austria-Hungary February To all whom it {nagaan/cern:

Be it known that I, WILHELM STIER, a subject of the King ot' Saxony, residing at Leipsic, Drienstrasse 9, Saxony, German Empire, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Letter-Files, (for which patents clear, and exact description of the invention,

such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had vto the accompanying drawings, and to y letters or figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to apparatus for filing letters, bills, and other documents of a like nature, and-is especially applicable to the apparatus known as the Shannon bill and letter file, in which letters or other loose sheets of paper are temporarily Iiled on two iixed wires, over the ends of which are the curved ends of two movable wires, so as to allow the letters to be turned over from the fixed to the movable wires and any desired paper to be taken out of the file without disturbing the order or removing any of the others. Files ot this kind possess the disadvantage that the papers can be easily removed by unauthorized persons; and the obj ect of my invention is to obviate this objection by providing suitable mechanism whereby the apparatus lcan be locked 4and can only7 be unlocked by means of a key.

Iwill describe my invention, by way of example, as applied to a Shannon bill-file, for

which it is especially suited. As is well known,

the movable wires in this ile are connected by means of cranks andaconnecting-rod, and they are secured in their open and closed positions by a spring and stops. In order to lock them in their' closed position, I provide a rocking bar or lever ora pivoted disk having eccentric slots, the said bar or disk being adapted to be moved by a'key in such a manner as to operate two sliding` bars, the free ends of which form stops for locking the cranks when the wires have been closed.

In order to enable myinvention to be fully understood, I will describe how it can be carried into practice by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure I is a plan of the under side of a Shannon bill-file provided with my improvements, the bottom covering-plate being removed to show the interior mechanism. Fig. II isa vertical longitudinal section of the ile. These iigures illustrate the use ot a slotted disk for actuating the sliding locking-bars, which are shown in their locking position. Fig. III is a similar view to Fig. I, but showing the sliding bars actuated by a rocking bar or lever. Fig. IV isa similar view to Fig. III, but .showing the position occupied by the parts when the ile is unlocked and open. Fig. V is a perspective view of the tile.

Similar letters in all the figures indicate similar parts.

Referring to Figs. I, II, and Vn.' is the case or box inclosing the mechanism for simultaneously operating the movable Wires of the iile. g gare the iixed wires. ff are the movable wires, connected by means of cranks h h and a connecting-rod Z. 7o is the spring, and m m the stops for securing the cranks in their closed position, as indicated by the full lines of the drawings, and in their open position, as indicated by the dotted lines.

The foregoing parts constitute an ordinary Shannon bill-file.

I will now describe my improvements.

b is the disk, pivoted at a and having the eccentric slots c c, the pivot a being formed with a square, as shown in Fig. II, to allow ot' its being moved by means of a key.

d d are the two sliding bars, provided at one end with studs working in the slots cl c. The bars d cl are formed with guiding-slots fn, n n, moving over xed studs. The free ends c e of the bars are adapted to engage in notches formed in the cranks h h, so as to form stops for locking the cranks when the wires f and g`.have been closed.

The iile being opened by moving the wires f fin the direction of the arrows into the po.- sition indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. V, the bills or papers are filed on the two fixed wires g g, and the ends of the movable wires f f are brought over those of the fixed wires, in the usual manner, into the position indicated by full lines of the saidFig. V. The disk b will then be in the position sliown by the dottedlines in Fig. I.

In order to lock the file, a keyis placed over the square of the pivot a', and, being turned, will rotate the disk b, and thereby move the bars d d until theirends c e enter thenotches in the cranks h 71. The key is then removed and the movable wires f f cannot then be turned to open the le without the application of the said key or a similar one.

The locking mechanism illustrated in Figs. III and IV is the same as hereinbciore described with reference to Figs. I and II, with the exception that a rocking bar or lever c is employed instead of an eccentrically-slotted disk for operating the sliding` bars d d, which for this purpose are jointed to the rocking bar, as shown.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim isl. The combination of the movable portions of the filing-wires of a letter-file with mechanism adapted to be operated by a key to lock the said wires in their closed positions, all substantially as described.

2. The combination of the movable portions o'f the curved filing-wires of a letter-file and crank-levers carrying,r said movable parts with mechanism adapted to be operated bya key to lock the said wires in their closed positions, all substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

IVILIIELM STIER.

Vv'itnesses:

CARL BORNGRAEBER, AUGUST LANGY. 

